Prime Minister Boris Johnson will lead a Downing Street press conference at 5pm, Number 10 has said.

He will be joined by England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty, and NHS England boss Sir Simon Stevens.

It is not yet clear what the prime minister will discuss however with discussions around the Covid-19 vaccine supply in the news today, it is thought this could be among topics set to be discussed.

The EU this morning threatened to impose strict controls on the export of jabs made in the bloc.

Brussels issued the warning amid a row with pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca over failing to deliver the promised doses of its vaccine, developed with Oxford University, to the EU.

The EU has now threatened to tighten controls on Covid vaccine exports within days, which could impact the supply of Belgium-made Pfizer-BioNTech jabs coming into the UK.

Mr Johnson may also talk about the UK’s death toll, which is in danger of reaching 100,000 within the next few days. As of January 25, there have been 98,531 deaths from the virus across all settings in the nation.

It is also likely the PM will be asked about when children will start returning back to school, after weeks of pupils learning from home during lockdown. The Government previously looked set to reopen schools after February half-term, but this appears to have since been scrapped.

It comes as the Home Secretary has today urged those who should not be travelling to stay at home.

Labour former minister Dame Angela Eagle asked: “Given that the Isolation Assurance Service currently does not check the vast majority of those required to isolate, how can the Home Secretary assure us that enforcement of these new rules will be adequate and that they not be more honoured in the breach than in the observance?”

Priti Patel told the Commons: “Border Force – if I may give the right honourable lady reassurance – are now fulfilling 100% compliance checks.

“We have airport staff too that… they are working within terms of bringing those checks in, working with airports and ports about queues and managing flows coming in. These are important measures but it does come back to the need for compliance which is why I urge everyone again who should not be travelling to please stay at home.”

Conservative former minister Stephen Crabb asked how hauliers would be supported under any increased border measures.

Responding, Ms Patel said: “The role of hauliers, goods, freight, medical supplies as well have been at the forefront of all our actions when it comes to keeping goods flowing and if I may just point my right honourable friend to the work that he will have seen at our ports like Dover with testing measures, these are important measures that do exactly that, they help to keep goods moving.”